Locale Ms My

Reference data for the Malay (Malaysia) locale — endonym Bahasa Melayu (Malaysia), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: ms-MY
• ISO 639-1: ms
• ISO 639-3: msa
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: MY (Malaysia)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 16,000,000
• L2 (additional): 10,000,000
• L1+L2 (total): 26,000,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale Ms 001 (Malay), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: other (1 form).

• other — everything else (e.g. 0~15, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale Ms 001 with the conventions of Malaysia.

• Formats: ringgit "RM12.50"; decimal point and comma for thousands; dates "17 Oktober 2026"; 24-hour clock.
• Terminology: use DBP terms and the Malaysian government's terminology (including Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu).
• Titles: Dato', Datuk, Tan Sri, Tun, and Dr are part of names; keep them in the correct order and abbreviations.
• Multilingual context: English, Chinese, and Tamil are widely used; Bahasa Melayu is the national language and language of government; Malaysian English words are often mixed in speech but not in formal text.

Common pitfalls

• Mixing Indonesian forms or number format.
• Dropping honorific titles.
• The general pitfalls in Locale Ms 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (https://www.dbp.gov.my)